Johnson Creek

June 19, 2025

The plan for the day starts with a meeting with Elizabeth over at Caffe Umbria. The standard model is that we meet there at 9 but I show up when the place opens at seven, have my first cup and an almond croissant and work on the blog until she arrives. It's more or less the same model for my coffee dates with Bruce over at Clinton Street.

I'm out the door just before seven and biking south on 12th, and feeling really good - about the beautiful morning, the state of my health, our curious life - and feeling proud of myself for getting out the door with all the essentials; until I'm outside the coffee shop pulling my lock out of the pannier and realize I'm missing something - my rucksack, and the iPad I loaded into it before leaving. Amazing that this happens so often, with me loading it to travel and putting it on my back but then taking it off at the last minute for some reason.

No point in sitting around the coffee shop for two hours waiting for Elizabeth without the iPad, so I call Rachael and beg her to meet me at the door with it and head back. No worries - it's a nice morning, and the two round trips add up to an extra mile on the bike that I can claim for the day.

Our apartment for the month is surprisingly bike friendly. A fast, spacious elevator (3 of them actually), stylish artwork, a covered deck with room for three bikes, and enough room in the apartment to bring them all inside on the rare rainy day.

No stairs when you enter or exit, fifty yards to the nearest bike path, and a passable view to greet your day. Very nice.

Time passes in the usual way and then Elizabeth shows up, orders her drink, and sits down opposite me to catch up on the last two months. She's just back from taking the train up to Seattle for Father's Day weekend, and updates me on how dad is doing. The news is saddening but not unexpected as his memory continues to slip. It's to the point that he doesn't remember folks at first or even if he has children, and there aren't many things that bring a spark to his eyes. So it goes.

Elizabeth on the other hand is thriving. She's in great health and shape, she's got an active life down here, she's leaving with a friend this fall for a Road Scholar tour of Tuscany and Umbria, and a week ago she traveled up to Port Angeles with four friends to participate in a relay race in the foothills between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Hurricane Ridge. They had an excellent time and came in first in their age group; and this was after she also placed first in her class on the day before on the 5K event. She's getting a pretty decent trophy wall going on her condo. Not bad for an 82 year old!

Between walks and rides Rachael's been keeping a vigorous schedule for a while and decides she's earned a day off. That's my ticket to either a more challenging ride or a birding outing, so I plan on both in combination with a trip to Kaiser for the new blood tests that got ordered for me in preparation for my transition to the new drug. The loop I have planned is around 35 miles: after the visit to Kaiser I'll head east to Mount Tabor, climb up to the top for some views and birding, and then continue on to Powell Butte before returning home along the Springwater Corridor and the waterfront.

That doesn't happen though, because the team is still processing the recent news about my medication change. There's a lot to think and rethink about, so we sit around talking about it for long enough that there's no longer time enough in the day for the ride I had planned. The trip to Kaiser and the climb up Mount Tabor get lopped off, and I decide this is really mostly a birding run that peaks on Powell Butte. I've brought the GoPro along too, thinking I'll cut a short video of the descent from Powell Butte and pair it with a Stacey Kent song I've been saving for the right length ride.

It's nearly one when I set out, pleased to be able to cross the Steel Bridge this time because there's no freight train blocking the way. As usual there aren't many birds out at this time of day, but I get lucky with a few unusual singles and by the time I make it to Springwater I've got ten already and am starting to fantasize about a twenty bird day: rock pigeon, American crow, house sparrow, spotted towhee, Canada goose, double-crested cormorant, great blue heron, song sparrow, California scrub-jay, turkey vulture. Good so far!

The CBD, from the bluff overlooking Oaks Bottom.

I do get my twenty birds, and then some - really, it's turned into the best birding outing since we returned home - but I never do make it up Powell Butte and in fact I never make it off Johnson Creek. As we've noted before, the corridor is quite rideable again now that the homelessness situation is much more under control. What's new today though is all the wetland restoration work that's occurred or coming to fruition over the last several years, work I've been blind to because of the blight.

This is a small restoration project that began probably seven years ago now, to rewild a small meander of the creek. It's pretty well complete now, with large snags introduced here and there and the short side trail lined with thriving native plants.

Some sort of Grinelia. From the growing conditions here it's likely Grinelia integrifolia (Willamette gum weed), a native plant here in the valley.

Especially striking is the Lents wetland, a small green space I biked through a few times in the past but gave up on when it became totally overrun with homeless encampments. It's completely cleaned up now, and this afternoon I end up standing in the middle of the trail for a full fifteen minutes watching seed-eaters peck away beneath a sequoia without a single person coming through the entire time to disturb them. Later I'll read up on this spot and see that the best is yet to come. I'm lucky to have come here at this time because construction work on the West Lents Floodplain Restoration Project begins at the end of the month and will tie up the the site for the next year and a half to restore the traditional wetland that was here before flood control measures were introduced.

The seed-eaters love this redwood or sequoia (I always get them mixed up) by the path through the Lents floodplain. The birds stage a good show, one I watched from a safe distance for about fifteen minutes.

#180: Black-headed grosbeak; adult male on the left, female or immature on the right,

Pine Siskin showing off for a black-headed grosbeak.

It's getting late in the afternoon when I finally break away. There's just time for me to bike another half mile or so east to another small wetland or marshy area where the roadside is lined with reeds and cattails with blackbirds singing from them. Today though I'm flabbergasted to look on the other side of the path and see a small lake, one that I'm sure wasn't there last year. Not only that, there's a short, paved spur around behind it that feels brand new, and probably is - when I look at the map, this shows as a green field with a dirt path beside it. Today it's a thriving wetland alive with birdlife and lined with colorful native plants. It's all very uplifting to see this area developing into what looks like it will be a thriving wetland in the heart of the city. Go, Portland!

Just west of Powell Butte is another recently restored wetland, one I've never seen before. It's got a short spur of a bike path just to its right that looks brand new. It's got geese, baby ducks, swallows dipping into the water, dragonflies, and I even briefly saw a grebe and killdeer. Very heartening.

Gilia, another Willamette Valley native.

It's nearing six and much quieter as I bike west back toward the Willamette. The sun is low on the horizon and bright enough on the eyes that they strain with the frequent transitions into the shadows and out again. Toward the end nearly all of the recreational riders have cashed in for the day and what remains on the corridor is me and the occasional homeless sole working his or her way to their isolated camp. It feels safe enough, but it's probably a spot Rachael would not feel comfortable in this late in the day. I've got the video on though and end up with too much footage for that Stacey Kent number I had planned on for the descent from Powell Butte. That will have to wait for another day, but in its place another tune comes to mind, one I find myself whistling much of the way home now that I'm done birding and don't need to keep my mouth shut and my ears open.

Yes, I know we just saw the back side of the funeral home a few days ago. The lighting is better this evening.

Great Egret. Finally some interesting bird life in Oaks Bottom! Timing is everything.

Sound track: Lullaby of Broadway, by Sarah Vaughn and Clifford Brown

Heart

Comment

Link

Today's list: Red-winged blackbird, Eurasian starling, Great egret, Spotted towhee, Killdeer, Mallard, Canada goose, American robin, House finch, House sparrow, Song sparrow, Mourning dove, Rock pigeon, Double-crested cormorant, Great blue heron, Dark-eyed junco, California scrub-jay, American crow, Turkey vulture, Black-capped chickadee, Black-headed grosbeak, Pine Siskin, Tree swallow, Northern rough-winged swallow (24)

Today's ride: 30 miles (48 km)
Total: 1,319 miles (2,123 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	6
Comment on this entry	Comment	1

Karen PoretWell, your comment about keeping your mouth shut and your ears opened sort of applies to me, today, as I now have hearing aids. For the first time in over 60 years, I can actually hear a bird call! I am learning all over again. If only the crows were NOT so loud and vehicle traffic was not such a grind.
And, your comment about the new drug which needs to be self injected?
I nixed that route of one a day for three years for my bone density and opted for 6 monthly infusion which I will get this week.
We are all having our own set of medical maladies, but will conquer because we are* CB'ers..over and out! *that’s a big 10-4..pun intended…
Reply to this comment
1 week ago